The next phase of the Jimmy Vesey Watch opens this week, when the Hobey Baker Award winner becomes an unrestricted free agent and can speak to any team in the National Hockey League.

The next phase of the Jimmy Vesey Watch opens this week, when the Hobey Baker Award winner becomes an unrestricted free agent and can speak to any team in the National Hockey League.

The Buffalo Sabres have owned the former Harvard University star’s exclusive rights since acquiring them in a trade with Nashville on June 20, but that changes at 12 a.m. Tuesday and Vesey’s camp is expected to talk to perhaps a half-dozen other teams.

The most prominent teams in the mix for Vesey in addition to the Sabres appear to be the Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers, New Jersey Devils and Toronto Maple Leafs. Vesey’s camp is reportedly looking to keep the decision down to a small group of teams and not invite discussions from the 15-20 that were reportedly interested.

The team that wins the Jimmy Vesey Sweepstakes tomorrow or the day after is almost certainly going to be getting a very good top-six winger — we say almost, because there are few 100-percent locks in the NHL — and also an outstanding person.

The 23-year-old product of Charlestown, North Reading and Harvard University, for which he won the Hobey Baker Award last season as the college game’s top player, will become an unrestricted free agent at midnight tonight.

No doubt 30 clubs covet him, but by now he has a list of some four or five teams for which he might wish to play. Representatives of those clubs will be invited to fly into Boston tomorrow or Wednesday — or, in the case of the Bruins brass, hop in a car — to meet with Vesey & Co. at an undisclosed location.

Jimmy Vesey became an unrestricted NHL free agent at 12:01 this morning, and, according to sources close to the former Harvard star, he has narrowed the list of teams he’ll speak with about signing his first contract.

The Hobey Baker Award-winning left winger, a Charlestown native who grew up in North Reading, will meet with the Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Buffalo Sabres, New York Rangers, New Jersey Devils and a lone Western Conference club, the Chicago Blackhawks.

The financial terms that teams will offer are fairly standard — a two-year deal worth some $925,000 per year, with the potential to add up to $2.85 million per year in performance bonuses. So the teams coming to Boston today and tomorrow will pitch Vesey on why they’d be his best choice.

Welcome back to the Jimmy Vesey watch where all the teams are trying to persuade the former Harvard University standout to begin his career in a city near you.

Now that he is officially a UFA, a good handful of teams around the National Hockey League are lining up in hopes of acquiring his services. From playing top-six minutes to joining current and future star players, to staying home or joining friends and family, Vesey, who tallied 104 points in his final two collegiate seasons, will hear plenty of pitches before making his decision.

The Bruins are just one of several reported teams that are interested in signing last year’s Hobey Baker winner. Other teams, like the Sabres, who acquired his rights from the Predators at this year’s Draft, Devils, Maple Leafs, Penguins, Rangers and Blackhawks have also been thrown into the Vesey watch saga.

The Jimmy Vesey watch finally is over, and it did not go the Bruins' way. The Harvard product and Charlestown native chose to stay close to home - but not too close - and signed a two-year, entry-level deal with the New York Rangers yesterday...